| dc.description.abstract | The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and ingestive behavior of growing lambs fed with hay of the banana leaf and pseudostem, submitted to different drying methods. Twenty animals were used, 10 males and 10 females, with an initial weight of 18 ± 0.8 kg, housed in metal cages, distributed in a randomized block design. Five treatments were tested: Tifton 85 grass hay, leaf or pseudostem hay dried in the sun, and leaf or pseudostem hay dried in the shade. The consumption of dry matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, mineral matter, ether extract and non-fibrous carbohydrates was evaluated, in addition to the total weight gain, average daily weight gain and feed conversion, the feeding times, rumination and leisure of each animal, as well as the number and time of merictic chewing. The data were subjected to analysis of variance and the means compared by the Skott-Knott test at the level of 5% probability. The inclusion of banana residues reduced the consumption of dry matter (P<0.05), and the animals fed with dry leaf hay in the shade, presented the lowest consumption of dry matter / kg PV0.75. The reduction in dry matter consumption of animals fed with pseudostem hay did not affect the weight gain of sheep, compared to animals that received Tifton 85 hay. Leaf hays resulted in longer rumination times, ruminal bolus chews and chews per day, with a consequent increase in the rumen retention time and requiring greater particle reduction to pass through the gastrointestinal tract. Banana residues cause changes in the consumption of nutrients and ingestive behavior of sheep, and the leaf hays reduce the consumption and the weight gain of the animals, however the use of pseudostem hay, especially dry in the sun, promotes weight gain, and represents a potential forage alternative for use in sheep feedlot. | |
